interiors, food, fashion and the like

someday home

living in new york, you learn to make sacrifices when it comes to interior design and what you want in your home. you have to truly love something before you bring it home, because chances are, unless you kick another piece to the curb (literally), you won’t have space for it. apartment living requires you to deal with the fact that you probably have to store all your kitchen appliances atop your cabinets, where they’ll collect dust until you need to use them again. there’s only so much wall space, so you can’t go crazy with photos. often, you don’t have tons of natural light, so you have to make due with less than optimal lighting. extra seating? fuhgettaboutit. enormous bathrooms with walls of subway tile? sister, it ain’t gonna happen unless you’re a millionaire.

but someday, i hope to move out of the city, and into a house that i can tear down and rebuild and make into my perfect oasis. in my mind (and on my pinterest board), i call it my “someday home.” it’s where i file away all the ideas that won’t work with my 1950s parquet floors and my temporary walls – but that might just work in my someday home. you know, when i get there. these images below fit that bill.

i’m in love with this stairwell, designed by emily henderson. the framed family photos, the contrast between dark and light, those incredible pendants. it’s not quite my style, per se – but i love the idea of pendants in a stairwell, and a gallery wall framing your walk up to bed.

there is little i love more than classic subway tile in a bathroom. my current bathroom is “redone” in large rosey beige marble tile, and while i’m sure that some people find this form of marble very chic, i can’t stand it. we have a nice pedestal sink, and if i had the power to change it all out, i’d put penny tile on the floors, subway on the walls and as the shower surround, and hit up chelsea flea for a gorgeous gold gilded mirror like the one above. medicine cabinet be damned! someday.

i don’t really want a home like this, per se – though i do love those thonet chairs and that giant bed. but let’s be real: those WINDOWS. i’d love to live in a loft space before i leave new york, if only to have windows like that. too bad williamsburg is so expensive now that it’s out-priced manhattan proper. this shot (as well as the one above) are of the wythe hotel, an uber-stylish space on the williamsburg waterfront.

when it comes to new york kitchens, i’m actually quite lucky. i have granite countertops, and tile floors, and a good deal of cabinet space. the design isn’t really my style (i’d prefer white cabinets to oak, and brass handles to the little knobs i have), and of course, i’d ditch the white appliances for stainless ones – but i have a real kitchen, which, for many new yorkers, is something that hangs precariously out of reach. and thank god, because i do a hell of a lot of cooking. my little galley kitchen gets a LOT of love (and a weekly deep cleaning). when i first moved to new york, i splurged on a kitchen aid, and let me tell you, once you go stand mixer, you never go back. i love my kitchen aid THIS MUCH. but seeing alaina kaczmarski’s mint green one above has me rethinking my “white will go with everything” color choice. alas. hindsight is 20 20. maybe mint will be my accent in my next kitchen…